Pick Me Up Some Peppermint Bark!

By sonia November 21, 2010 Candy

Today was the BIG GAME. For those of you who don’t know, the Big Game is when Cal plays Stanford in football. We are HUUGE rivals, and this game is probably the most important for the whole year! Since I am graduating this year, it was my last Big Game ever. Unfortunately, this year, they CREAMED us, 48-14…so so depressing. To top it off, it started POURING.

I was stranded inside with three of my good friends, listening to the rain hitting the ground heavily, the lightening flashing, and the thunder grumbling. I kept counting after the lightening until the thunder came, to see how far away the lightening was. I decided to set the mood with my famous PEPPERMINT BARK!

This chocolate treat is so beautiful and yummy that it puts you in such a good holiday mood! Although it looks decadent, it’s so simple to make! People are so impressed when you make this for them. A real crowd pleaser

Here’s what we did…

What we were listening to: Awesome Pandora Mix that consisted of Disney songs, Michael Buble, Maroon Five, Jack Johnson, and so much more (I <3 Pandora)

Ingredients:

11-12 oz bag semi-sweet chocolate chips
11-12 oz bag white chocolate chips
6 oz peppermint candies (I used about 30 individually wrapped candies, but candy canes work as well)
2 tbsp vegetable oil

Instructions

1) Crush the peppermint candies. You want to crush about 4-5 tbsp worth of fine, fine peppermint shavings. The rest should be smaller pieces of peppermint candy.

The easiest way to do this, is by using a food processor, or a steel blender. However, I had access to neither of these devices tonight. So we took a more traditional road of crushing. The boys wrapped the peppermints in wax paper, put them inside a zip lock bag, and pounded on them with various objects. They even used a garlic press to make the extra fine shavings! So creative…

2) Melt the semi-sweet chocolate with 1 tbsp of vegetable oil in a double boiler. The vegetable oil will make the chocolate beautifully glossy!

A double boiler is where you put a pot of water over a direct flame, and put another bowl on top, which has the contents that you are cooking. Now, chocolate is very high maintenance. I say this because when melting it, you have to pay close attention to it the whole time, stirring gently, and removing it from heat AS SOON AS it is melted. Otherwise it will burn and after that, there’s no turning back. But don’t worry, the double boiler method works very well. Keep the heat on low, so that you have control over the chocolate.

Another word on chocolate…

Chocolate is just like anything else in this world. Good quality chocolate will stand out in taste. I chose to use Ghirardelli chocolate, but it is up to your personal preference. You can also try milk chocolate, for a sweeter, milky flavor.

3) Once melted, stir in 2 tbsp of FINE peppermint shavings.

4) Cover a 9×13 baking sheet with wax paper (tin foil also works). Spread your semi-sweet chocolate mixture evenly on this baking sheet. Then, sprinkle the small pieces of peppermint on top of the chocolate. Place in the refrigerator.

You can even add some of the FINE peppermint shavings!

4) Repeat the melting process in (2), this time using white chocolate with 1 tbsp vegetable oil. Once melted, stir in 2 tbsp of FINE peppermint shavings.

5) Retrieve the baking sheet from the refrigerator and pour the white chocolate mixture on top of the semi-sweet chocolate. Use a spoon or spatula to even out the white chocolate, so that it forms a nice even layer. Sometimes, the two chocolates will mix together, but I assure you, the flavor will not be impaired!

Top it off with oodles of peppermint pieces. Refrigerate for about 45 minutes.

6) Once it has hardened, you can break it into pieces with a knife, or even with your hands (But be careful: Peppermint is sharper than you think!)

Enjoy!